Commissioners concerned over water funds requirements

State projects favored over local

The comment period on proposed policy amendments for the New Mexico Water Trust Board should be extended or the amendments dropped, Lincoln County commissioners contended last week.

During a special meeting Wednesday, they approved a resolution calling for a time extension from the Aug. 15 deadline or rejection of the amendments, They said the negative impacts could be significant for counties and cities, because the new rules would favor large state projects.

County Manager Nita Taylor told commissioners on Aug. 6, staff of the Southeast New Mexico Economic Development District notified its member counties and cities about the proposed amendments to the water board's project management policies governing the distribution of water project money. The short time limit would not allow commissioners to research and evaluate the proposed changes, she said. Entities in Lincoln County that could be affected include the Upper Hondo Water and Soil Conservation District.

"After consulting with several other parties and closely reviewing the document, it appears that a number of changes are clean-up language," Taylor said. "However, there are additional changes that may be substantive, as they may likely be impactive to potential fund applicants."

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The changes would place projects with urgent needs as determined by a cabinet secretary or designee at the top of the funding list. State agency or department projects also could be excepted from the loan component, she said.

The first change seems to give deference to agencies and departments of state government and the second seems to take away the option of exempting loan requirements for cities and counties and granting it to state agencies and department, she said. Another proposed requirement would mandate that an asset management plan be submitted with a funding application, along with additional reports and studies that would add time and expense, Taylor said.

Commissioner Preston Stone wrote a separate letter requesting a time extension and rejection of the amendments. He contended that because Water Trust Board funding comes from tax dollars, checks and balances are needed for accountability reasons and that was the legislative intent.

"The WTB staff was established for prioritizing and(judging) the adequacy of projects requested, not a Cabinet Secretary or designee," he wrote. "By adding this requirement, WTB is adding another layer of burden on local governments that may or may not know which agency they need approval from."

If projects were "stand-by ready," there would be no need for WTB funding assistance, he wrote.

Commissioner Dallas Draper offered a motion to approve the resolution, which passed unanimously.

Taylor told commissioners that State Sen. Phil Griego, who represents a portion of the county, wanted them to know that he is looking into the matter and planned to deliver a similar request to the state engineer the day after the special meeting.

"He agrees there is not enough time to understand what's going on here," she said.

"There's enough gray area in there to clear up," Commission Chairman Jackie Powell agreed. "Lincoln County takes water very seriously."

Commissioner Kathryn Minter asked Stone for more information. Stone said State Engineer Scott Verhines tried to enact similar policies and legislators disapproved them at the last minute.

"These policies are aimed at three to five of the larger projects in state," he said. "The smaller systems and soil and water conservation districts will be deleted from the process, because the asset management requirement is a big change and there is no way small entities can comply with asset management issues."

He said if approved, $5 million will come off the top of the board's funding marked for tribal nations.

Stone contended that Verhines previously said in a perfect world, he would only be dealing with a few large projects.

"This is something very detrimental to the purpose of the water trust board funding," said Stone, who previously served on that board.

"How do they expect us to fund those smaller projects, if these go through?" Minter asked.

"They are not worried about it," he replied.

Debra Ingle, executive director of Rural Water Region I, said that board will be looking at the proposed changes during a meeting this week and also has filed a protest.

Powell said the emphasis on large projects "has been coming for several years." The State Engineer's office accumulated a backlog of projects and that "messes up the Department of Finance and Administration's whole funding process and causes problems in OSE. This may be a way to clear it up, but I think there are better ways that don't discriminate against small governments."